Roast kumara and pear salad with crunchy chickpeas

A delicious salad full of crispy roast kumara and crunchy and balanced with fresh pear and cranberries.

Sep 30, 1975 2:00pm

1 hr 15 mins cooking

Serves 4

Print

Ingredients

Roast kumara and pear salad with crunchy chickpeas

400 gram canned chickpeas, drained, rinsed

1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil

1 tablespoon fennel seeds

2 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves

650 gram small kumara, unpeeled, cut into wedges

2 pears (500g), unpeeled, cut into eight wedges

1/4 cup (35g) dried sweetened cranberries

1 cup (250ml) boiling water

1 cup (280g) greek-style yoghurt

1 tablespoon tahini

200 gram rocket leaves

Method

Roast kumara and pear salad with crunchy chickpeas

1

Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F.

2

Pat chickpeas dry with paper towel; place on an oven tray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of the oil over chickpeas, sprinkle with half the fennel seeds and half the rosemary; season. Bake for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until chickpeas are golden and crisp.

3

Reduce oven to 180°C/350°F. Combine kumara and pears on a large oven tray with remaining oil, fennel and rosemary; season. Bake for 40 minutes or until kumara and pears are browned and tender.

4

Meanwhile, soak cranberries in the boiling water for 10 minutes or until softened. Drain, reserving 2 tablespoons of the soaking liquid.

5

Combine yoghurt, tahini and reserved cranberry soaking liquid in a small bowl; season to taste.

6

To serve, arrange rocket, kumara and pears on a large platter; top with chickpeas and cranberries, then drizzle with yoghurt mixture.

Notes

Leaving fruit and vegetables unpeeled not only speeds up preparation time, it also makes good nutritonal sense, upping the fibre content of a dish (and in the case of sweet potatoes, the antioxidant content), since the skin contains triple that of the flesh.